Freedom Or Love?
by ImperviousHeart
Summary: Bakumatsu time period. Kenshin saves Kaoru from being sold at the marketplace, instead, he buys her. Kenshin doesn't want to lose her, but eventually, he knows he will. Tells the story of how they both overcome their feelings for each other.


**Disclaimer**: Rurouni Kenshin does NOT belong to me. Don't sue me.

This fic could be OOC. Dunno yet. Please support me!

(A/N): It's very disappointing that there are hardly any readers here at Lots of Ruroken writers have moved on, and some readers AND writers have left. But my love for Ruroken will forever last. My biggest wish right now is that the readers and writers will return to This isn't my first ficcie, but I do hope the readers will support me! D

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"Keep on moving!" cried the dreadful voice of a soldier clothed in a teal uniform.

The sounds of soft crackling on the leaves but with heavy footsteps, the whistling and hustling of the autumn wind, and the yelling of the soldiers in charged of bringing these young girls to their rightful place all played over and over.

However, the sounds that dominated the most were the cries of the young girls, the whippings of the soldiers, and mostly, the silence that came forth when girls fainted.

All of these young girls had their hands tied behind their back, so there was no way for them to rebel as the soldiers tortured them as they pleased. One thing in which the soldiers weren't allowed to do was to intimidate them, with none other than beatings.

Many of these young girls were between the ages of 14-18. All of them were either found, or sold by their parents because their family economic was unbearable. They never chose this kind of life themselves...

There was one young girl, Kamiya Kaoru, who was the age of 16, believed that one day someone will buy her, and get her out of this misery. And this is the day where her dream will come true...

They were not slaves...

They were treated far more auspicious than slaves. You can compare them to geishas, in other words, prostitutes. However, one difference is that they were not trained like how geishas were. They do not have their clothes, they do not have their food, they do not have their shelter, or their grace. However, they were trained the same way. They were like a blend of geishas and slaves.

Once they arrive at the marketplace, they will be auctioned, to the highest bidders, and leave this appalling torture.

"Give up the swords and we'll let you go!" This voice provoked the leading soldier.

It was a group of bandits that was ready to rob a young-looking swordsman. The swordsman had flaming red hair, tied up into a high ponytail. You can see that his navy blue gi was hanging loosely onto his body, and his hakama was all wrinkled and ripped on the bottom edges. His left land, which was protected by his wrist guards, was gripping tightly on his sword, getting ready for defense.

"I'm not in the mood to fight," he said with a slight growl, as his fiery amber eyes opened and glared at chief bandit.

"Hand over the katana and wakizashi and we'll let you go safely!" he cried.

He felt presences behind him, so he turned and saw a big crew of soldiers, and young girls behind waiting to pass by. Although it seemed like they wanted to pass through, each and every single one of them wanted to see what the swordsman would do.

"Today isn't a day for blood, but seemingly, I have no choice," the young swordsman whisperde, but loud enough for the bandits to hear him.

He couldn't bear to people behind him to see blood, especially the young girls, but he didn't have time to consider anymore, because the chief bandit had already lunged towards him.

Kamiya Kaoru was standing in front, so she could clearly see what was happening. As the bandit had lunged towards the red-headed swordsman, the bandit was already slashed across the chest. The movements of the swordsman's were faster than lightning.

Kaoru's eyes widened with amazement since the swift swordsman nearly knocked out the bandits in less than 10 seconds. Kaoru observed the bandits from afar; she realized although they looked dead, their chests were still heavily heaving so the swordsman never intended to kill them. Kaoru turned her gaze back to the swordsman, panting with his sword in his hand, raised just below the ground by roughly one inch.

"Hey," Kaoru felt a light tap on her arm as she turned around to see Rin, a young girl around the age of 15 smiling at her. "Why are you gazing so intently at the 'Hitokiri Battosai'?"

Kaoru's eyes widened once again. _Battosai_? "No..." I'm not..." Kaoru softly replied with a blush. "And how do you know he's _the_ 'Hitokiri Battosai'?"

"I use to live in Kyoto with my family, everyone knows that Hitokiri Battosai has red hair, which is not commonly found amongst the Japanese, and then there's his sword, people say that it's faster than lightning!"

"AH!" Kaoru cried with a loud yelp.

Battosai turned around to see Kaoru get whipped by a soldier with smirk on his face.

"Oh, you two think it's time to socialize when we should be moving!" he cried with a slight lion roar.

"AH!" all the young girls started to get whipped continuously until everyone started moving.

"STOP IT!" Kaoru cried with tears spilling from her eyes. "Why must all of you treat us like this? Why can't we just be free and- AHH!"

Kaoru was whipped this time at her face. Hard.

Although everyone phrased Battosai as a cold-hearted killer, he couldn't take seeing this young girl suffer anymore. He walked over as he sheathed his sword.

"YOU LITTLE WRENCH! HOW DARE YOU?!" A soldier pulled her out from the crew and continued whipping her.

"KAORU-CHAN!" cried Rin.

A soldier heard Rin shout so he was about to teach her a lesson.

"AHH!" Rin yelped.

"Ha! This little whip won't teach you anything, I guess I'll have to try it the hard way," the soldier said with an evil grin.

Rin's eyes shown shock and fright.

He started whipping kicking her and whipping her continuously while laughing manically. All Rin could do is whimper softly.

"RIN-CHAN!" Kaoru yelled as she heard and observed all that just happened. "PLEASE DON'T DO THIS TO HER!!"

The soldier was just about to whip Kaoru once more, until a hand stopped him from doing so. "You whip her, you die," said a cold voice.

Kaoru turned around to see Battosai gripping the soldier's wrist. All of a sudden, everyone in the crew stopped.

"Batto...sai..." He said with his eyes looking at Battosai's gold and cold eyes, with fear and fright.

"Release everyone here. Or else there will be some serious consequences," Battosai said rather demandingly.

The leader had witnessed what was going on, so he paced over, hoping there might be some negotiation with the infamous man-slayer.

"Himura-san," said the leader, knowing that it will be rude to just call him, "Battosai" when he knew his last name. "We are on a job here; we cannot allow any of these girls to escape before they're sent to the market place for bidding. If you are interested in any of these girls, however, we may be kind enough to-"

"So you're not offering me a slave, but a _whore_?" asked Battosai with an amused look on his face.

Kaoru winced back when he emphasized _whore _in his question. All this time, she thought that "Battosai" would actually save everyone here.

"I wouldn't call them whores," replied the leader calmy with a serious look on his face. "However, they do have some talent. Each and every one of them are trained to serve a man properly, so if there are any here that interests you, let me know right away. I may even hook you up with a discount." He finished his last words in a friendly way, hoping that the word _discount_ would evoke the great Battosai.

Battosai can tell that this leading soldier was only trying to get rid of him by offering him a girl. He reached into his gi sleeve and pulled out a few gold coins. He threw them on the ground and said, "I'm presuming that these should be more than enough for ten."

"Yes, yes..." the leader said with contentment as he kneeled down to pick up the coins from the dirt.

Battosai turned around and looked at Kaoru; he stared at her with no sentiment at all. Kaoru gulped and gazed at him back, could she be the one he wanted?

Battosai slowly walked towards her and looked at her in the eye. Kaoru looked up at him; he was only a few inches taller than her. _Those eyes_, Kaoru thought. _They're so intense, yet... another emotion that I can't make out of_.

Battosai raised his hand. For a second there, Kaoru thought he was going to slap her, but instead, he pushed back a strand of hair of hers. Kaoru was shocked by his actions. Battosai walked behind her and untied her wrists.

"Ah, so you have chosen Kamiya Kaoru," the leader reached inside his bag and took out a piece of paper and then handed it to Battosai. "This is the information on Kaoru Kamiya, age, necessities, etc. But you have the right to do anything you want with her. This is just the paper to prove you own her, and to show that we never had someone like Kamiya Kaoru." He finished the last sentence with a soft chuckle.

Battosai fully understood his intention. He was not allowed to sell anyone as of now, but he has to use one of these girls that so Battosai won't stop them from completing their job.

"We'll be going, but if the beatings continue, all of you will _die_ without any second words, got it?" Battosai gave the leader a cold stare. His eyes gave him the warning that he better not pull any moves.

"Yes, Himura-san," every soldier replied with obedience in their voices.

Kaoru quickly ran over to Rin, hoping Battosai would allow her to have a fairwell.

"Rin-chan…" Kaoru said softly with tears rolling down her eyes.

"Kaoru-chan... your dreams... you're finally free from the torment here..." Rin carefully wiped away her tears to stop them from coming out. She wanted to be happy for Kaoru, so she sounded rather cheerful. However, she was definitely going to miss her. All these years together, they looked out for each other as friends, but more than just friends, even more than sisters.

Kaoru gave her a hug, and whispered into her ears, "One day, you will be freed too. Everyone here will be freed..."

"Arigato, Kaoru-chan," Rin said in response as she hugged Kaoru back.

"Good luck with Battosai, make sure you don't get killed!" Rin whispered jokingly.

Kaoru laughed softly at her joke; however, she didn't find that humorous at all on the inside. Kaoru let go and she walked back to Battosai.

Soon, the crew has already started moving, and Battosai started walking with Kaoru following him.

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Should I make Battosai cold towards Kaoru? Severely beat her, but change towards the middle? Please gimme suggestions minna...


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